English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Robusto

20:10

@tchrist That's a lot of bull.

Robusto

20:21

Also, "lulz" is "lol" for people who think they are too hip to write "lol" — you know who you are.

Lulz, I would see that on some classmate's assignments. — Moshe Sep 14 at 18:38

RegDwighт

Lülьз.

Mitch

20:33

@ΜετάEd whoa, that is crazy man! 25C is -room- temperature? I thought it was supposed to be 20C = 68F.

tchrist

@Mitch Room temp in Europe is 20C, but in America, it’s 72F. Or so they say. Don’t understand that one.

ΜετάEd

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring substance that is solid and stable at room temperature, representable by a chemical formula, usually abiogenic, and has an ordered atomic structure. It is different from a rock, which can be an aggregate of minerals or non-minerals, and does not have a specific chemical composition. The exact definition of a mineral is under debate, especially with respect to the requirement a valid species be abiogenic, and to a lesser extent with regards to it having an ordered atomic structure. The study of minerals is called mineralogy. There are over 4,900 known ...

Mitch

@Robusto I'm all retro now cuz it's not cool yet and say 'lol'. Soon I will say 'laugh out loud' and then later 'That's funny'. Only then will I begin to say 'lulz' again.

@tchrist what? holy crap. I didn't know that. I really thought it was 68F. This won't be on the test, will it?

You know, the re-citizenship test.

If you don't pass they kick you out. Not deport, because there's no where to send you. Just kicked out.

@tchrist Oh I know. It's just nicer in the US. splains a lot.

RegDwighт

@Mitch Why not go all the way back to Roman Emperors and show your appreciation for a joke by not killing the person who made it? Short and sweet.

Robusto

I am disappoint.

Mitch

20:37

@RegDwighт Holy crap. What?

tchrist

I thought ‘lol’ was how children spelled “Ha!”.

Mitch

That's too far back. I'd forget the joke by then.

RegDwighт

Which, nine times out of ten, is a good thing.

Mitch

@RegDwighт That's so uptight though. Can't people just lighten up? I guess torture is too time consuming or something, nobody wants to put work into it.

RegDwighт

As an Emperor, you don't torture, you let torture.

Mitch

20:40

@RegDwighт That joke decimated the crowd. Their heads were rolling in the aisles.

@RegDwighт That's what I'm saying. Lazy emperors. Don't enjoy their responsibilities.

Robusto

@RegDwighт OH NOES! If they get rid of the homework tag, I will lose — let me count — 10 reps on SO! A whole upvote!

Mitch

@Robusto the homework tag is a big deal on math.SE

RegDwighт

@Mitch you absolutely need free time, to buy Halliburton shares and shoot your friends.

@Robusto they'll only get rid of the tag, not the posts. Your ten reps is not going anywhere.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Whew!

@Mitch What's the point of being an emperor if you can't be lazy? It would kill the whole thing for me.

Mitch

@Robusto signing orders to kill people, or even a backhanded wave to signal, is still a lot of responsibility. Staffing, supplies (a good cliff will help cut back there), workflow (cleanup, notification). It's a full time job to ignore all those fulltime jobs.

Robusto

20:47

@Mitch I still would take the job if it didn't require me to do any work.

Aug 23 '11 at 1:01, by Robusto

BTW, please be sure and remind me if the Sultan of Brunei job comes open. I want to put in an application. $50 billion and a harem. Don't even tell me about the medical.

RegDwighт

I would take any job if it didn't require me to do any work.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Your current job seems not to require very much.

RegDwighт

@Robusto didn't his daughter just get married?

Robusto

@RegDwighт Whoa, I missed that?

Carlo_R.

@Robusto +1

RegDwighт

20:49

@Robusto spiegel.de/fotostrecke/…

Robusto

@RegDwighт No, I believe you.

RegDwighт

The link has eight more photos.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Geez, you'd think he could afford a better harem.

RegDwighт

Harem is in the eye of the beholder.

Robusto

Looks more like harem scarum to me.

Carlo_R.

20:50

:)

RegDwighт

Hooray, I get the reference.

Just two weeks ago I wouldn't have.

Robusto

That's why we ... etc.

RegDwighт

Looks more like the harem. Not better, though.

Robusto

These people seem determined to live up to their cultural stereotypes.

RegDwighт

Anyway, you're too late to turn in your application.

Robusto

20:54

Damn.

Story of my life. A day late and $50 billion short.

Carlo_R.

@Robusto may I ask you the reason of your nickname? It seems an Italian word.

... an adjective for preciseness.

Robusto

@Reg, do you have a tab open to the place where I explained my nickname?

Carlo_R.

rather than a noun.

RegDwighт

@Robusto no, only the one where you explained Yume.

Robusto

Mar 19 '11 at 12:53, by Robusto

No. Robusto is long for Rob.

RegDwighт

21:00

Oh that.

Robusto

Feb 20 '11 at 16:06, by Robusto

BTW, Robusto™ is now trademarked. Don't let me catch you using it generically, or my lawyers will be all over you like a bum on a baloney sandwich.

RegDwighт

I didn't file that one under "explanation".

@Robusto yes, that one I have open right now. True story.

Carlo_R.

@Robusto thank you

RegDwighт

Also your law of parenting.

And your lustigen Streiche. And other things.

Also a Google Image search which I can find no way to link to.

Stupid Google messed it all up.

Robusto

Has anyone else noticed chat searches taking a long time lately?

RegDwighт

21:02

It used to be that you could link to images.google.com/search?q=Robusto. No more!

@Robusto I can't speak for anyone, but no.

Robusto

@RegDwighт My lawyers were all over them like a bum on a baloney sandwich. You got a beef with RIAA? That's nothing compared with my litigators.

Anyway, gotta go.

RegDwighт

CU

tchrist

Does RIAA really not let you see these youtube things from outside the States?

RegDwighт

Well I guess if you're a lawyer, you can't technically claim it's RIAA, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter for me as a user which bozo label who slapped on whose ass to not let me watch Kelly Clarkson.

Sometimes it's SONY, sometimes it's GEMA. But it's always GTFO.

tchrist

So what happens, you click the link and get an intercept? Why would they let U.S. domestics watch it but not others?

RegDwighт

21:08

You ask me?

tchrist

I’ve seen that with the BBC, but not on Youtube.

Yes, I ask you.

RegDwighт

I didn't invent this shit. Or other shit, for that matter.

I was born in a country where everything belonged to everyone.

tchrist

So what, I have to give ed2k: links instead of youtube links?

RegDwighт

Dailymotion works. Except they have lots of ads.

tchrist

I had no idea youtube policed country of origin.

RegDwighт

21:11

They've been doing that for years now, and it's been getting worse every single day.

tchrist

I don’t understand why they would do that, instead of a take-down.

RegDwighт

As soon as there's any kind of music in the video, the site is worthless to me.

tchrist

If it is a rights issue, surely U.S. domestics don’t get a bye.

RegDwighт

@tchrist why so sure?

They won't let me shop in the US iTunes Store, either.

Never did.

tchrist

I never paid.

Since I never paid, why do I get to watch/listen?

And you don’t?

Didn’t we both not pay?

RegDwighт

21:12

Because you think sense, and they think nonsense. Think different.

tchrist

Back to ed2k links then.

RegDwighт

Seriously, they won't even let me watch stuff I own on DVD and CD and tape and vinyl.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт This is star worthy.

Because it sounds so nice.

tchrist

@Cerb Kitty will bitch about random stars.

Or Jasper will want some, too.

Cerberus

Not with me.

RegDwighт

21:15

You never buy music. I wonder when people will understand this. You don't buy shit. You literally buy the physical atoms that disintegrate sooner or later. You have no right to listen to the song. You have the right to touch the atoms, is all.

Cerberus

I agree.

RegDwighт

CDs turn to dust after a couple decades. I really wished that had started happening before everyone was finished buying the exact same stuff as MP3, because then they'd have actually noticed.

Cerberus

Unenforceable rules are nearly always bad. You can only own stuff that you can have control over.

tchrist

Atoms don’t disintegrate. Kinda ruins the name.

Cerberus

Atoms can disintegrate.

RegDwighт

21:16

@tchrist tell that to the Greek.

Cerberus

They're quite tomic.

tchrist

Stable isotopes?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I was just thinking, why can you say "tell that to the French"? But it's probably because of the fricative/sibilant ending.

RegDwighт

Oh, and don't get me started on sheet music. That's music publishing bastards and regular publishing bastards combined. You want a PDF of a song? Five dollars.

Cerberus

@tchrist Are there even isotopes that are stable over a hundred billion years?

@RegDwighт eyes bulging

RegDwighт

21:19

I can write the notes down myself, FFS. Or just hum it for free.

tchrist

Table of nuclides (complete)

The isotope table below shows isotopes of the chemical elements, including all with half-life of at least one day. They are arranged with increasing atomic numbers from left to right and increasing neutron numbers from top to bottom. Cell colour denotes the half-life of each isotope; if a border is present, its colour indicates the half-life of the most stable nuclear isomer. In graphical browsers, each isotope also has a tool tip indicating its half-life. Isotope table See also * Island of stability References External links * [http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart Interactive Chart ...

It looks like ²⁰⁸Pb is the last stable isotope.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт You should learn Dutch and watch this awesome episode of this Belgian programme "Basta", where they play a ringtone in a train, then call up their local GEMA in "panic", asking how much they now owe them for performance rights. "Where is this public gathering?" — "Ehh let me see, close to Brussels." Etc. etc.

They also organise a party in a space of 0.9 m², because SABAM's lowest fees are for "1–99 m²".

tchrist

sings Happy Birthday

Cerberus

fines you

That song has once been sung on an Apple device.

You now owe Apple € 1 billion.

tchrist

Your apple looks half-eaten, but has two worms in it.

Cerberus

21:26

Certainly.

David Wallace

@Cerberus There must be at least one. Otherwise we'd have an endless supply of energy.

tchrist

They probably didn’t finish because of the worms.

Cerberus

Well, maybe ¹H?

Or perhaps there are some atoms that are theoretically stable, but that in practice disintegrate in time under the influence of radiation.

tchrist

Define radiation.

Cerberus

I don't think anybody has been able to do so yet...

tchrist

21:30

Cerberus

I don't think gamma radiation has been defined in a satisfying manner yet.

tchrist

Oh?

Gamma is just one part of the EM spectrum, no?

David Wallace

What's unsatisfying about "wavy stuff"?

Cerberus

Stuff about particles, waves, and fields, oh, and strings...stuff.

@DavidWallace Exactly!

@tchrist Ehm I would say it is the entire spectrum?

Matt Эллен

nay!

Cerberus

21:33

But I guess one usually means the high-frequency stuff coming from nuclear fission?

Hay.

tchrist

> Gamma rays typically have frequencies above 10 exahertz (or >10¹⁹ Hz), and therefore have energies above 100 keV and wavelengths less than 10 picometers (less than the diameter of an atom).

David Wallace

I think physicists have an excellent mathematical definition of what electromagnetic radiation is and does. An intuitive picture is something that we'll never really have though, because we, as macroscopic beings, have intuitions that describe macroscopic phenomena.

Cerberus

Right.

@DavidWallace Is that so? I thought there were still many things about it that we didn't understand?

tchrist

Gamma ray

Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency and therefore high energy. Gamma rays are ionizing radiation and are thus biologically hazardous. They are classically produced by the decay from high energy states of atomic nuclei (gamma decay), but are also created by other processes. Paul Villard, a French chemist and physicist, discovered gamma radiation in 1900, while studying radiation emitted from radium during its gamma decay. Villard's radiation was named "gamma rays" by Ernest Rutherford ...

David Wallace

@Cerberus What do you understand by "understand"?

tchrist

21:35

Cool pic.

Matt Эллен

it's what makes the Hulk green

Cerberus

I don't know.

tchrist

Understand is the antonym of supersede.

David Wallace

@MattЭллен That is true.

Are you sure it isn't sleepover?

Cerberus

Segno, is that blood?

Matt Эллен

21:38

Who is Segno?

Cerberus

Or a sign?

I don't know, some Italian word.

Ah, yes, it is sign.

tchrist

Sure.

RegDwighт

Well I'll be calling it a day.

Cerberus

Hey.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus Blood is sangue, silly.

Cerberus

21:42

That's too bad.

@RegDwighт Ah, right.

David Wallace

As in "dal segno al fine".

Cerberus

What is it in Spanish again?

RegDwighт

The same.

Cerberus

Ah.

RegDwighт

In French, too.

tchrist

21:42

Well.

Cerberus

All those silly Latin depravations.

RegDwighт

Sangre, sang.

tchrist

Spanish has signo, seña, and señal.

Matt Эллен

Sangria

Cerberus

Is it sangre in Spanish?

RegDwighт

21:43

@tchrist Don't forget sueño.

tchrist

Er/

RegDwighт

@Cerberus yes, hence sangria.

David Wallace

Yes. Sangre.

tchrist

Sangría.

Cerberus

So you lied.

David Wallace

21:43

Oops, too slow.

Cerberus

I knew it.

RegDwighт

I didn't lie, I was cutting corners.

Andrew Leach

There's a place called Senlac near me. Lake of Blood.

Cerberus

*cutting up and mixing truths

RegDwighт

Obviously sang is not quite identical to sangue, either, but you're expected to know that.

David Wallace

21:44

Sangría means bleeding or bloodletting.

tchrist

@RegDwighт No tiene que ver: sueño < somniāre.

Cerberus

Oh, that's cool. Where do you live?

RegDwighт

@Cerberus Oh FFS the next time I just log off silently. :PP

Andrew Leach

Sussex, England. Senlac is where the Normans defeated the Saxons, near Battle.

tchrist

sanguine

RegDwighт

21:45

@tchrist I know that, silly.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I obviously knew that all three languages had something resembling sang. I just wanted to know their exact respective spellings, see?

RegDwighт

Why is everyone so silly all of a sudden? This is no ministry.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт And Obama is going to keep all his promises next term.

tchrist

genuflects

RegDwighт

@Cerberus then google for Wiktionary.

Cerberus

21:45

@AndrewLeach Ah, cool!

Matt Эллен

ministry of silly talk? hasn't this always been?

RegDwighт

@Cerberus you can google for Obama, too.

You can even google for Google.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I see no LMGTFY link. Too hard.

David Wallace

@RegDwighт and Queen Mother for Pope.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus google for LMGTFY, duh.

Andrew Leach

21:46

@MattЭллен Ministry of Silly Walks is better.

Cerberus

Hao?

RegDwighт

@Cerberus Ni.

Cerberus

Haha.

tchrist

Good ol’ Paddy O’Bama, a truer son has Dublin never had.

David Wallace

@RegDwighт I could do that for you, if you let me.

Matt Эллен

21:46

@AndrewLeach it's difficult to see walks in a chat room ;)

Cerberus

I think I'm going to Bing Google. Hard.

RegDwighт

@DavidWallace I never!

David Wallace

@Cerberus Bing it with Alta Vista.

tchrist

@DavidWallace Is that still up?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт tinyurl.com/ycsumjz

@DavidWallace Ohh I used to use that.

tchrist

21:48

I thought they turned into Baja Vista and went underground.

David Wallace

@tchrist It seems to be.

RegDwighт

¡Abierto y alto!

David Wallace

The top trending search on it right now is bulimia.

So it may have gone down and come back up again.

Cerberus

I think I'm switching from LMGTFY to LMBTFY.

tchrist

@RegDwighт ducks

Cerberus

21:51

@tchrist lmddgtfy.net/?q=altavista

tchrist

sangrail

sangre azul

sanguine-bilious

sanguinivorous

sanguino-purulent

sang-froid

Cerberus

I get this message, "Dear Mr Cerberus, your order has been delivered by courier. Regards, Vodafone."

I have neither ordered not received anything.

David Wallace

Phone them and complain that you haven't received it yet.

And that it's so long since you ordered it, that you've forgotten what it was.

Cerberus

Heh.

David Wallace

Maybe they'll give you a free gift in addition to the thing you didn't order.

Cerberus

21:56

I'll just tell them I want my € 1000 back if they don't deliver my new ehm Apple product (what other object that expensive would anyone order from Vodafone?).

Somehow I don't think they would buy it.

Everyone knows I would sooner eat poop than buy Apple shit.

David Wallace

Just ask them for the courier tracking number, so you can check it with the courier firm.

Cerberus

Heh.

They may not have such a number.

Matt Эллен

They may not be vodafone

Cerberus

I did order some pre-paid card from VF a month or so ago, so perhaps it was that.

David Wallace

@Cerberus Not your fault if they've lost it.

Cerberus

21:59

True!

@MattЭллен They address is [email protected], and the e-mail contains only two links, which are both vodafone.nl.

So I think it is genuine.

Matt Эллен

fair enough

Andrew Leach

Is Klanten a place?

Cerberus

They also got my name correctly, and the Dutch is OK.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that they say it was delivered today.

@AndrewLeach Klanten = clients.

David Wallace

@Robusto In Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian, "da nada" could mean "yes, above" or "yes, hope", and "da nada se" could mean "that he/she/it hopes" or "if he/she/it hopes". So, depending on context, not Russo-Spanglish at all.

@Cerberus So your correctly name is Mr Cerberus?

Matt Эллен

lol

Cerberus

22:05

@DavidWallace *your name correctly

And yes.

David Wallace

Then from now on, I shall address you as Mr Cerberus.

Cerberus

Great.

Mahnax

Hello everyone.

Cerberus

Hello.

Matt Эллен

Hello

Mahnax

22:09

How's things over in Europe?

Matt Эллен

Quite wet and somewhat disappointing. How is Canada?

Mahnax

Quite hot, which thoroughly displeases me.

Matt Эллен

I would like some warmth. I'm not fan of the cold.

we should get to trade weathers

Mahnax

That would be fab—I love rain.

tchrist

Mahnax

22:14

It's 25˚C here.

David Wallace

@DavidZaslavsky: I prefer it if you did discuss, because I don't agree with your arguments, and I dislike the very idea of "civility" in a forum. I believe that direct rudeness is the only way to keep a forum from degenerating into political nonsense with no scientific content. Without rudeness, there is no science, see Galileo's Simplicio character. I also think the only ballsy thing I said in the whole exchange was "Einstein didn't know half the things I do." but considering that Einstein died in 1955, and more than half the things one knows were discovered past that date, it's accurate. — Ron Maimon Jul 11 at 2:26

Just found that gem!

tchrist

@Mahnax Same, but ours is in English.

Matt Эллен

@Mahnax it's 11 here.

tchrist

Mahnax

@tchrist That's funny.

@MattЭллен Sounds lovely!

David Wallace

22:17

I seem to have 15, if metservice.com/towns-cities/wellington/lower-hutt is to be believed.

Matt Эллен

@Mahnax as does yours :) I miss the summer already.

Mahnax

@MattЭллен I want winter to hurry up, heh.

Matt Эллен

me too! hurry and leave, that is :D

Mahnax

Haha.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace Haha brilliant!

If anyone still thinks that guy isn't mad...

David Wallace

22:26

Hmm, my English <-> S/B/C dictionary gives the pronunciation of "where" as /hwejr/. That's just weird!

Cerberus

Haha.

That's whejrd.

Mahnax

Rather.

@Cerberus hwejrd*

Matt Эллен

I bid y'all goodnight!

Mahnax

Good night!

Robusto

22:43

@DavidWallace Thank you for thoroughly wrestling my joke to the ground.

David Wallace

Killjoy is my middle name.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Whoops.

Bye Matt.

@Robusto You literally always use that phrase.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Heh.

tchrist

More of Arnold from the reflexives files.

@DavidWallace What’s weird? The /j/ glide?

David Wallace

@tchrist Yes. The h is not weird to me.

I give a gentle h myself on such words.

tchrist

22:55

I think it depends on the transcription system. I would have used /ei/ not /ej/.

There are fancy diacritics you can use, too, which may not look good here.

David Wallace

I'm pretty sure I pronounce it /hwɛ:/, or /hwɛ:r/ before a vowel.

tchrist

Avoiding the wh- bit and using a simple d- to illustrate, if day is /deɪ/ then you would think dare would be /deɪɹ/. But usually it is not transcribed with the diphthong.

David Wallace

For me, "day" and "dare" have two quite different vowels.

tchrist

Really?

David Wallace

Yes.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…